Shadow Fleets, Sanctions Evasion, and the Complexities of Maritime Governance
The Grinch case illustrates how Indian nationals, including the ship’s captain and majority crew, play a central operational role in sustaining Russia’s sanction-evading oil trade, raising questions about legal compliance, operational ethics, and international maritime governance.
Governing by Faith and Fear: Inside India’s Bureaucratic Transformation
Once imagined as a neutral steel frame, India’s bureaucracy is undergoing a profound mutation. As faith becomes an instrument of alignment and fear a tool of discipline, the administrative state is drifting from constitutional neutrality toward ideological enforcement, with lasting consequences for democracy, governance, and state capacity.
Recalibrating Western Partnerships in South Asia
The recalibration of Western engagement in South Asia is revealing a growing divide between strategic optics and strategic reliability. While India leans on symbolic diplomacy and geopolitical hedging to project indispensability, Pakistan is repositioning itself as a results-oriented partner aligned with Western security priorities. As Washington reassesses the costs of accommodation without alignment, the region’s balance is quietly shifting toward predictability, restraint, and responsibility.